Metal skin stitcher



Dec. 11, 1951 c. w. WAi-QREN METAL SKIN STITCHER 2 SHEETS- SHEET l Filed July 16, 1948 attorney Patented Dec. 11, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE METAL SKIN STITCHER Charley W. Warren, Paradise, Calif.Application July 16, 1948, Serial No. 38,991

3 Claims. (01. 1--49.1)

This invention relates to surgery and more particularly it is an objectof the invention to provide a new and improved suturing clip applicatorof the self-feeding or magazine type.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved metal skinstitcher which may be more easily operated than heretofore.

A further object of the invention is to provide a metal skin stitcherfor applying suturing clips to wounds more rapidly than heretofore.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a skin stitcher asdescribed which may be held in such a position during use that theoperator may more readily see his work prior to a clip.- ping action aswell as during the clipping action.

Another and still further object of the invention is to provide a skinstitcher having fewer parts than skin stitchers in the prior art for reducing both the production cost and the possibility of mechanicalfailure.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a clip applicator asdescribed which may be more easily cleaned than applicators of the priorart.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device for the purposedescribed which is sturdy and durable in construction, reliable andefficient in operation, and relatively simple and inexpensive tomanufacture, assemble and utilize.

Other and still further objects and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a frontal elevation of the skin stitcher of this inventionshowing a suturing clip held thereby in a position preparatory tostitching.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the clip applicator as shown in Figure1.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of an applicator of the invention shownwith the clip magazine in dotted lines and with a portion of theactuating lever handle being broken away.

Figure 4.- is a side elevation of a suturing clip before use, the endsof the clamping bars being 7 shown in dotted lines.

Figure 5 is the suturing clip shown at the end of a clipping operation,the ends of the clamping bars being shown in dotted lines.

Figure 6 is a detailed view showing the inner portion of a clamping barof this invention, shown in engagement with an end portion of a clip, aportion of the tip of the bar revealing a clip-supporting nib andrecess.

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Figure 6.

Figure .8 is a right end elevation of the end of the clamping bar shownin Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a detail, on an enlarged scale, showing the frontelevational View of the lower part of the skin stitcher with part brokenaway illustrating the method of retaining the suturing clips in themagazine of the machine.

Figure 10 is a vertical section through the magazine of the machine,taken on line Ill-Ill of Figure 9.

The metal skin stitcher of this invention includes a frame generallyindicated at II having a flat backing plate I2. The plateIZ is providedwith a handle it extending outwardly therefrom on one side thereof.

The handle [4 is inclinedly disposed with respect to the backing plateI2 and is provided on its downward side with a plurality of hand gripprotrusions I6.

On the bottom edge I8 of the plate I2 the latter is provided with two ormore spaced apart track members 20 which latter extend outwardly fromthe plate I2 on the opposite side thereof with respect to the handle I4.The track mem here 20 are preferably of an L-shape having outer sides inparallelism with the plate I2 and bottom sides disposed at a right anglewith respect to the plate I2.

The track members 20 may be formed inte grally with the plate I2 orattached thereto as desired.

The bottom edge of the plate I2 is preferably disposed at a right anglewith respect to the plane of the handle I4' and the track members 213are disposed spaced apart along the bottom edge I8. The upper sides ofthe L-shaped track members 20 are open. v

The purpose of the track members 26 is to slidably receive twooppositely disposed clamping bars 24, permitting the bars 24 to slide inthe guide tracks 29 in parallelism with the plate I2.

The clamping bars 24 are provided with notches 26 on their inner endsfor purposes later described. The notches 26 are of U-shape in crosssection and are elongated extending transversely of the bars 24 and inparallelism with the plate Each clamping bar 24 is provided with a nib2T protruding outwardly from the curved inner wall of its notch orrecess 26. The nibs 2! each are disposed on the lower end of therespective recess or notch 26, the upper portion of the recess 26opening on the upper side of its bar. The upper surface of each. nib 2!extends downwardly transversely of the respective elongated bar 24 attimes when the bars 28 are in the positions shown in Figure 1.

The outer ends of the bars 24 are pivotally secured by means of pins 28to a pair of legs 30 which are disposed on either side of the plate l2and extend in parallelism with the plate l2 upwardly and inwardly fromthe pins 28. v

The legs 30 are each pivotally secured to the plate l2 by means of oneof two screws 32 which latter extend through suitable apertures in apair of tabs 34.

The screws 32 extend through the legs 30 approximately medially of theends thereof. The upper ends of the legs 30 are attached to a pair ofarms 38, pivot pins being employed for attaching each leg 30 to one ofthe arms 38.

The other ends of the arms 38 are pivotally secured by means of a pin 42to a plunger or trigger member 44.

The plunger 44 is elongated and preferably of a fiat construction, beingheld in slidable parallelism with the plate i2 by means of two guidebands 46 and 48, the latter being disposed transversely of the elongatedplunger 44 and being longitudinally spaced apart along the plunger 44.

Resilient means are employed for connecting the plunger 44 to the frameplate 12 in a manner causing the plunger 44 to return to a normalposition after a later described clipping operation. Such meanscomprises a spring 50 secured to the frame 12 at one end by a bolt 52and the upper guide band 46.

The lower end of the spring 5i! is secured to the plunger 44 by means ofthe pin 42. The pin 42 is itself secured to the plunger 44 at a pointbetween the guide bands 46 and 48.

The upper end of the plunger 44' extends beyond the upper end of theplate l2 and a thumb ring or trigger is provided and secured to the topof the plunger 44.

The thumb ring 60 is disposed in a plane in parallelism with the plunger44, the hole through the ring 66 being disposed transversely to theplane of the plate i2.

The plate I2 is provided with an arcuate concave recess 5| in the loweredge thereof between the inner ends of the bars 24. This is forpermitting the sides of the incision to be received in the recess 6| andfor permitting the ends of the bars 24 to be disposed closer to the skinof the patient.

The invention further includes a magazine ID for slidably receiving andstoring a plurality of suturing clips 72. The magazine Iii is providedwith a fiat back surface 74 and curled longitudinal edges 16 whichlatter turn back and terminate in positions spaced apart from each otherand from the back surface '1 of the magazine 1B.

The magazine in is provided with a piston 78 slidably disposed betweenthe curled edges 16. The piston 18 is secured to a piston rod 82 whichextends upwardly from the piston '58 in parallelism with the elongatedmagazine 70.

It will be noted in Figure 2 that a plane parallel to the back 14 of themagazine and extended through the centers of the curled edges '18substantially intersects a plane through the centers of the U-shapenotches 25 at the lower end of the stitching machine, whereby as theclips arrive at the lower end of the magazine they drop into the notchesof the clamping bars or clenching jaws.

At the upper end of the magazine 10 the piston rod 80 passes through anaperture in a magazine at cap 84, the piston rod extending upwardly ofthe cap 84.

A shoulder 86 is provided on the rod 80 between the piston 18 and thecap 84 and a spring 90 is provided between the shoulder 86 and the cap84 for urging the piston 18 downwardly from the cap 84.

At the lower end of the magazine 10 a resilient member or spring 92 isprovided, the latter being formed by a portion which is spaced apartfrom the terminal inturned longitudinal'edges 1B of the magazine 10.

The portion 92 is adapted to bear against the clips 12 thereunder inorder to prevent the latter from falling outwardly of the magazine 10except at times when the spring portion is overcome by the downwardforce of the plunger 44'.

The spring member 92 is integral with a connecting portion 94 whichlatter extends between and is integral with the adjacent terminal edges16 of the magazine 19.

It will be seen that the elongated magazine 19 extends along side and isclosely spaced apart from the plate I2 but that the magazine 10 isinclined slightly with respect to the plate l2, being disposed closer tothe plate l2 at the lower end of the magazine in than at the upper endthereof. 7

The rod 86 is provided with a shoulder I80 at its upper end forpreventing the passage of the piston rod 86 through the cap 84.

The suturing clips preferably employed are best shown in Figures 4 and5. Prior to application the clips F2 are provided with straight mainbody portions Hi4 having points I06 at either end. The points I06preferably both extend away from the main body portion I04 on the sameside of the said main body portion, the points slanting s1ightly towardseach other.

In operation, the device is gripped around the handle l4 with theoperators thumb in the thumb ring 60. The device is then in the positionsuch that the incision to be stitched is disposed between and beneaththe inner ends of the bars 24.

At this time a clip 12 will be disposed between the ends of the bars 24with one of the bent portions adjacent its ends disposed in the notches26. The clip '12 will be prevented from falling downwardly by theprotrusions 21, which latter are so spaced apart with respect to theclips 12 that when the bars 24 are in the Figure 1 positions, theprotrusions 21 extend inwardly of and under the rounded portions 208adjacent its ends, as best seen in Figure 6. Without the protrusions 2?,the clip 72 would be pushed outwardly from the notches as under thepressure of the spring 90 and of the remaining clips 12.

The operator then pushes downwardly on the ring 60 and plunger 44causing the latter to force the ends of the bars 24 together, causingthe clip 72 disposed therebetween to assume an arcuate shape as shown inFigure 5. The points I06 will then come closer together for pulling thesides of the incision together.

During the period in which the clip is bent into the shape shown inFigure 5, the next adjacent upper clip is prevented from escaping fromthe magazine or track It because the said next upper clip engages thetop of that clip which is being applied.

After application of a clip, the plunger 60 is released, permitting thenext clip to move downwardly into the recesses 26.

A plurality of the clips 12 may be used on the same incision and thenumber of clips used is in direct proportion to the length of theincision.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that asuturing clip applicator constructed in accordance with my invention isparticularly well adapted for use by reason of the convenience andfacility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will alsobe obvious that my invention is susceptible of some change andmodification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof,and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself tothe precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shownin carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. In an applicator for applying suturing clips to wounds: twoclip-engaging members, said clipengaging members havingoppositely-disposed ends, said clip-engaging members each having arecess in its said oppositely-disposed end for receiving a suturing clipwhile said ends are in normal positions, said recesses each having aportion opening from one side of its said members; and means for causingrelative movement of said opposite ends toward each other in a straightline from said normal positions.

2. In a suturing clipping machine, the coinbination which comprises abacking plate having a handle extended from the upper end, a plungerhaving a finger ring on the upper end slidably mounted for verticaltravel on the face of the backing plate, a pair of opposed clenchingjaws slidably mounted on the lower edge of the backing plate andpositioned to travel in a plane perpendicular to the line of travel ofthe plunger, a pair of parallel clip holding channels extended upwardlyand outwardly from the lower end of the said backing plate andpositioned to feed clips to the said clenching jaws, and toggle actinglevers connecting the said clenching jaws to the plunger whereby thejaws are actuated inwardly as the plunger is forced downwardly.

3. In a suturing clip applying machine, the combination which comprisesa vertically disposed backing plate having a handle extended from theupper end thereof, a plunger having a finger ring on the upper endslidably mounted for vertical travel on the said backing plate, a pairof opposed clenching jaws slidably mounted on the lower edge of thebacking plate and positioned to travel in a plane perpendicular to theline of travel of the plunger, said clenching jaws having verticallydisposed recesses in the opposed inner ends thereof with clip retainingprotrusions in the lower ends of the recesses, a pair of parallel clipholding channels extended upwardly and outwardly from the lower end ofthe said backing plate and positioned to feed clips to the recesses inthe inner ends of the said clenching jaws, and means actuating the saidclenching jaws by the plunger whereby the jaws are forced inwardly toclose a clip as the plunger is moved downwardly.

CHARLES. W. W ARREN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Stauffer Nov. 16, 1948

